exe files in Windows user profile

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[Simon_Weel]

A long time ago, before Windows 10, I implemented the ‘Ransomware Prevention Kit’ made by Susan Bradley and Amy Babinchack. One of the key things it does is preventing the execution of files residing in the User Profile folders. A thing exploited by malware makers. That policy does a pretty good job. And then Microsoft decided for Windows 10 (maybe for Windows 8 as well, but never used that version) it was a good idea to have users install applications in their User Profile. Sigh. I’ve been struggling with this since 2015, mostly by just creating exceptions for this and that application. But I’m not happy with all them exceptions piling up and so I wonder – how to remedy this once and for all?

• This topic was modified 2 years ago by Simon_Weel.
• This topic was modified 2 years ago by Simon_Weel.

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Could you provide a link or further information about the “ransomware prevention kit”? Further information will help identify what changes were made to your system.

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It’s no longer available, but you could download it from ThirdTier.

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Another thing you can do to “limit” how many apps get installed in the user folder is select an custom location during the installation process. Not all apps offer this option (especially ones directly from MS), but a lot do.

It’s also possible to “manually” move an app to a new location after it’s been installed, but it involves making changes in the registry and isn’t for the faint of heart!

i.e. I “moved” Google Chrome from my user folder to a special “C:\Internet\Google\Chrome” folder I created but it required changing a bunch of entries in the registry to make it work properly in the new location.

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